"It's a very simple game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains."
(Bull Durham)

Friday, September 13, 2013

Morton v Arrieta

Charlie Morton (7-4, 3.44) and Jake Arrieta (3-4, 5.49) bump heads tonight. Morton had a rare poor outing last time out, and was yanked with a bum foot, so we'll see how that plays out during the game. Arietta hasn't been that bad with the Cubs (he had a terrible time in Baltimore), putting together a 2-2/4.28 line. His command has been an issue, walking 20 batters in 33-2/3 IP, although that's been mitigated by giving up just 21 hits.

The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

The Pirates established a PNC Park record with 46 wins at home this season, outpacing 2012's high water mark of 45 victories, with 10 more games remaining on the North Shore.

Clint Hurdle told the media that Jason Grilli isn't quite there yet and Mark the Shark will keep on closing for the time being, with Tony Watson, Kyle Farnsworth and Grilli as his set-up guys.

The Cards lost and the Reds were off, so Pittsburgh is tied for the NL Central lead and Cincinnati is 2-1/2 games back. Washington kept on winning; they're eight games behind the Bucs for the wildcard with the clock ticking, though just 5-1/2 behind the Reds. The Pirates magic # to qualify for the playoffs is nine with 16 games to go in the regular season.

Some home run race in the NL. Pedro has gone 15 games without a long ball since taking over the league lead on August 27th, while Arizona’s runner up, Paul Goldschmidt, has gone 20 straight games without a homer.

Six Pirates have saves this year (Jason Grilli - 30, Mark the Shark -14, Tony Watson - 2, Kyle Farnsworth, Ryan Reid & Vin Mazzaro - 1) and the team has 49 saves overall. That's closing in on the team record of 52, set in 1979 by Kent Tekulve (31), Grant Jackson (14), Enrique Romo (5), and Ed Whitson and Dave Roberts with one.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sport's Baseball Insider selected the best FA signings of the year, and Pittsburgh had four of the top 15 players.

James McDonald cleared waivers and was outrighted to Indy. J-Mac can, and will almost certainly win, elect free agency following the
season.

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